*SPOILER ALERT - I DISCUSS A FEW PLOT POINTS IN THIS BLOG*
My daughter and I went to see the movie Maleficent today. We had both really been looking forward to it since we saw a preview for it last year. I'm consider myself a cinephile and this seems to be yet another trait that Gianna has inherited. I had high hopes going in; I've always adored the story of Sleeping Beauty and I think that the original animated Disney version is still the most beautiful film they've ever released.
How excited was I when I saw the first pics of Jolie as the title character? Kudos to costume and make-up...they got her spot on. I thought the way they handled the pet Raven as a man who can transform was interesting and well done. I appreciated the nod to the original movie with the dialogue in the christening scene. Loved the way King Stephan had the iron workers create a metal version of the tangle of thorns. It was beautifully shot and well acted, but that is where my praise must end. The treatment, by the screenwriter in particular, made me frustrated and angry.
I'm not opposed to a re-make, at least not in principle. However, I have grown weary with the growing number of movies/shows that take a classic, well loved story, shake it up and change everything about it, just for the sake of changing it. I grow weary of the lack of creativity that destroys something beloved in the name of perspective. Needless to say, I walked out of the movie theatre today with a bad taste in my mouth, and it wasn't from the popcorn.
While I was annoyed with the moral ambiguity that the screenwriter wove through the story, I'll save that rant for another post. Today I'll stick with my disgust regarding how it seems to be increasingly acceptable for people to stamp their names on other people's work and destroy the dignity of a story under the guise of "re-interpretation". This has always bugged me. It's one of the reasons why I've never gone to see Wicked (although, I did read the book. It was terrible; waste of time). I adore the story/movie The Wizard of Oz. It is one of the great pieces of American art, in my never-to-be-humble opinion. Then someone comes along, "re-interprets" the story and gives us the REAL story of the witches of Oz. I find that annoying and offensive. If you want to write a story, write a story. But don't RE-WRITE someone else's story and call it your own. That's not creative. That's intellectually lazy. And ethically wrong, if you ask me.
Artists - be they musicians, painters, sculptors, dancers, film makers, writers, etc. - put their work out there, in the public eye, for our combined cultural experience. And part of the experience for some is watching/listening and being inspired by the creation. I get that. I get seeing a movie or reading a story and being inspired by it to the point where you want to present your vision. I'm all for that. Peter Jackson's King Kong, Danny Elman's Alice in Wonderland, and as silly as it sounds the Ben Stiller/Owen Wilson version of Starsky and Hutch are some examples of movies that I think were re-interpreted in a way that did justice to creative inspiration while maintaining the integrity of the original stories. The new version of Flight of the Phoenix with Giovanni Ribisi; all the versions of A Christmas Carol (Alastair Sim, George C. Scott, Patrick Stewart....heck, even the Henry Winkler version); several more examples of excellent remakes. Those movies, those writers and directors understood a very important principle: Nothing in a creative interpretation should destroy the original story.
Maleficent isn't the story of Sleeping Beauty, told from the point of view of the mistress of all evil. It's a completely different story. Simply having a few of the same characters doesn't make it the same story. This is not the story of the evil fairy who cursed the innocent princess. This is a story of an out of control scorned woman, using Stockholm Syndrome as an excuse for her bad behavior and as justification for the murder of the king. Okay, okay, I've tip toed into the blog I promised I'd save for later....the one about the moral ambiguity. Sorry.
I guess my larger point is that I wish we placed a higher value on art. No one would think it's okay to change the name on a bank account and call the money yours. Why do we find it acceptable for artists to have their work stripped from them in the name of re-telling a story. It's still stealing, I don't care how you slice it.
All in all, I'm glad I saw the movie. Even when I don't like something I'm often glad that I saw it, if for no other reason than to have a working knowledge of the material that others are discussing. It was a fun day, Gianna liked it (she's allowed to be wrong....lol) and yes, Aunt Pam, we went to lunch afterward.
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